How Much Water is There?

Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing but water. When it’s pouring, the ground is soaked and you have to walk through puddles to get where you need to go. But, really, there’s not that much water on Earth. Not compared to the amount of other Earth materials.

Why It Matters

The oceans hold 96.5% of all of Earth’s water. The remaining 3.5% is in glaciers, the soil, the atmosphere, groundwater, streams, lakes and living things.